1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automobile body structures and more particularly to side structures of automobile bodies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Side structures of automobile bodies are generally composed of several sub-divided panels which are connected together by for example spot weldings to form a complete side structure. It has been recognized that, where the number of sub-divided panels is large, there will be an accumulation of manufacturing errors so that difficulties will be encountered in assembling the body side structure.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,364, there is disclosed an automobile body side structure wherein the outer panel is composed of a front side outer panel section and a rear side outer panel section. At the junction between the panel sections, the rear side outer panel section is formed with a substantially vertically extending pillar outer panel whereas the front side outer panel section is formed with a pillar inner panel. The pillar outer panel of the rear side outer panel section is connected at the front and rear edge portions with the pillar inner panel of the front side outer panel section to thereby form a pillar structure of a closed cross-section. The proposed structure is advantageous in that the body side outer panel can be formed with a smaller number of panel sections so that accumulation of manufacturing errors can be avoided. Inner panel sections can be located taking reference to the thus accurately assembled outer panel so that the overall assembling accuracy can be maintained.
In order to provide the pillar structure formed by the front and rear outer panel sections with sufficient rigidity, the U.S. patent further proposes to provide a pillar reinforcement which is located between the pillar outer panel on the rear side outer panel section and the pillar inner panel on the front side outer panel section. It should however be noted that the pillar reinforcement increases the number of parts which are to be assembled and therefore makes the assembling operation complicated.